Mitchell Johnson, one of the people who opened fire at a Jonesboro, Arkansas middle school and helped to killed five people, has been rearrested on drug and weapons charges twice since his release for mass murder. Mitchell and his accomplice, Andrew Golden, each only served sentences up to their 21st birthdays, because of an Arkansas law that would not enable them to be held after the age of 18, even for multiple counts of first degree murder. Prosecutors were able to use federal weapons charges to hold the two until age 21. The end result is that Johnson was released in 2005, and Golden in 2007.  Johnson served no more than 2 years for each murder.

The realization in Arkansas that the punishment of the pair would be so light sparked an outrage, with state legislators passing laws to change the way juveniles were charged in serious crimes.  If not for the federal firearms violations, both would have been out several years earlier.  If there are any states out there with laws that allow juvenile mass murderers to roam around freely after age 18, it would be in most citizens’ interests to contact their state legislators immediately.